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The name of the midrise refers to the Forest Hill neighbourhood's exclusive postal code.

The Code's lobby will be on Parkwood Ave. for more intimate entry to the building.

By Ian HarveySpecial to the Star

Thu., March 20, 2014

You can go home again. Just ask builder Brian Brown.

He grew up in the Forest Hill area and now he’s developing a boutique condominium project there that will include attention to detail that only a local can bring.

“People in the community pushed us as well, so this was personal,” said Brown about the midrise, named The Code Condos. “We spent a lot of time looking at the impact from the street, and from the park across the street, to make sure we got it right with features — like using brick on the exterior to soften the look.”

The nine-storey building will sit at the corner of Parkwood Ave and St. Clair Ave. W., with the LRT right outside. The St. Clair West subway station is a two-minute walk west. Directly opposite and on the south side of St. Clair Ave. W. is the sprawling Sir Winston Churchill Park, which connects with Roycroft Park to the southeast and Nordheimer Ravine to the west across Spadina Road.

Southern-facing suites in the planned midrise building will overlook the 21-acre park, which also has 10 floodlighted tennis courts, a fenced off-leash dog park, a jogging track, ravine trails and kids’ playground.

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“In a way, the park is the key amenity for this building,” said Brown principal of BLVD Developments and vice-president of Lifetime Developments.

“So we wanted to see how it fit with the park, both from the park side looking at it and from the front entrance,” he said noting that Parkwood Ave. was chosen as the best, most intimate entry point.

Lifetime Developments’ credentials include 20 years of business with an array of quality projects, among them, the Four Seasons Private Residences, M5V, Victory Condos, Liberty Market Lofts, Indx Condos, Karma Condos, The Bond and The Yorkville Condos.

Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects designed the building. Interiors in the 108-unit building, plus 10 townhomes, are by Tomas Pearce Interior Design Consulting Inc. Units range from 430 square feet to 2,500 square feet — up to 1,700 for the towns — and prices for the project that is at pre-sale status are expected to tart in the mid-200,000 range.

The development is long overdue, however. The site itself has been all but derelict for years with an abandoned seniors’ home extension partially completed and rotting away.

“There are a lot of sites like that across the city where they’ve started and just run out of money, or been distracted by another investment,” said Ward 22 St. Paul’s councillor Josh Matlow. “The city has no power to do anything about it.”

While the project was controversial with residents because of its height, initially planned for 11 storeys, one big plus is that it will displace “the eyesore which sat there for far too long” said Matlow.

What buyers at The Code will also come to appreciate is the strong sense of community in Forest Hill where residents are fiercely protective of their neighbourhood. Maintaining that pride of place, he said, will always mean future redevelopments will have to be carefully scrutinized.

Meanwhile, Matlow added, he’s working to preserve the character of Forest Hill village, asking staff to report on ways to ensure any changes or additions to the facades of shops and businesses remain in concert with the existing ambience.

The name The Code is a reference to the exclusive Forest Hill postal code, M4V 0A3, said Brown, with buyers getting a home in one of the most upscale Toronto neighbourhoods. It also plays off the old real estate adage about “location, location, location” being a property’s priority feature. And while the multi-million-dollar homes on the streets extending north, west and east from the site are out of average buyers’ price range, Brown said The Code is designed to be affordable.

“We call it post-urbanism,” he said. “This is a condo not just for people who want to downsize after living in the area for years but also for people from the area who want to buy their first home — or even for couples who want to move here. For couples with kids there are great schools in the area too.”

Indeed, Forest Hill Collegiate, Bishop Strachan School, Upper Canada College and St. Michael’s College School are all in the area. Other neighbourhood amenities include the recently renovated 66,000-square-foot Loblaw’s store on the east side of Spadina. Around the corner, just a couple of blocks across and up, is Forest Hill village with a funky collection of stores and cafes.

“It really is a village,” said Larry Track who started out with a 1, 000-square-foot fitness club, Track Fitness eight years ago in the village and has grown it to its current 10,000 square feet. “There’s a great sense of community. The businesses all support each other, you get to know the people and the customers because you see the same people all the time.”

The core nature of the businesses, he said, are independent owner-operated and customers appreciate that uniqueness.

The one complaint, he said, is that there’s precious little parking and officers are vigilant in ticketing. Residents at The Code, however, will be able to avoid the sting of parking fines since it’s an easy walk that takes just a few minutes.

Not so easy, however, are Track’s workouts — he runs outdoor fitness classes and boot-camps in Sir Winston Churchill Park.

“There are lots of trails, stairs and hills for running up and down,” he said. “Something for everyone.”

Dog lovers will also like the park’s off leash area and the main-floor pet wash station planned for The Code, one of the key shared amenities and a feature increasingly demanded by condo buyers.

There will also be a residents’ lounge with bar, big-screen TV, kitchen and dining table, and a private outdoor terrace with lounge settings and a fire table.

Brown said the fitness studio will have some cardio and weight equipment which will be suitable for an indoor workout when the weather is inclement and can also be used with a personal trainer.

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